Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazon-tamar, which is Engedi.
From beyond the sea on this side Syria. Instead of Syria, some versions read 'Edom,' and many able critics prefer this reading, both because the nomad tribes here mentioned were far from Syria, and because express mention is made of mount Seir, i:e., Edom. The meaning then is, that this confederate horde was composed of the different tribes that inhabited the far-distant regions bordering on the northern and eastern coasts of the Red Sea. Their progress was apparently by the southern point of the Dead Sea as far as En-gedi, which, more anciently, was called Hazazon-tamar (Genesis 14:7).
This the ascent of En gedi is the uniform route taken by the Arabs in their marauding expeditions at the This, the ascent of En-gedi, is the uniform route taken by the Arabs in their marauding expeditions at the present day; and in coming round the southern end of the Dead Sea, they can penetrate along the low-lying Ghor far north, without letting, their movements be known to the tribes and villages west of the mountain chain. Thus, anciently, the invading horde in Jehoshaphat's time had marched as far north as En-gedi before intelligence of their advance was conveyed to the court.
En-gedi is recognized in the modern Ain-jidy, and is situated at a point of the western shore nearly equidistant from both extremities of the lake. 'Below the falls at Ain-jidy, in the center of the plain, is a group of ruins of some extent, built of unbeveled square stones of fair size, but nothing megalithic, and all very much weathered. These crumbled walls carry us with a mighty stride across the history of man. They are all that remains to tell of a city as old as the oldest in Syria, perhaps in the world - "Hazazon-tamar (the felling of the palm trees), which is En-gedi" - the contemporary of Sodom and Gomorrah, an existing city when Hebron first arose. Through it passed the Assyrian hordes of Chedorlaomer. The plain around is now as desolate as the old city of the Amorites, though once a forest of palms' (Tristram).